Location: Cape Town

Shark Explorers, based in the False Bay coastal town of Simon’s Town, a short distance from central Cape Town, was founded in 2009 by well known great white shark filmmaker and naturalist, Morne Hardenberg. Morne is one of a small elite group of divers across the world that films and swim with the great white shark without the protection of a cage. His company emphasises the economic value of sharks as a non-harvested species. Shark Explorers not only offer safe and environmentally responsible white shark cage diving excursions in False Bay, South Africa, they also support and donate to local conservation programs.

From R2500 p/p

All crew are highly qualified Skippers & Divemasters. They are also trained as paramedics.

The dive centre is based in Simons Town, False Bay, only a short 30 minute drive from the Cape Town airport. It’s in these coastal waters of False Bay that Morne, through his company Shark Explorers, assists scientists with research, tagging and filming the great white sharks.

With Shark Explorers you can dive with up to 15 different species of sharks as they offer a variety of snorkel and scuba trips. Apart from their white shark excursions, Shark Explorers also offer dive trips with Blue and Mako sharks as well as the 7 Gill Cow shark.Join Morne on his life mission to continue exploring the waters of Cape Town and sharing it’s beauty and vulnerability through tourism, filming and responsible diving.

GREAT WHITE SHARK TRIP

During this great white shark trip, you have the opportunity to see the great white shark launch completely out of the water in what is known as a breach. An early morning launch from the Simons Town harbour starts off with the towing of a decoy seal. The decoy is towed behind the boat for roughly two hours. During these two hours you have to be camera ready as a great white shark can launch itself right out of the water during an attack on the towed decoy seal.

Once we have towed the decoy for a couple of hours we anchor the boat at a suitable site. Now we start chumming the waters to attract the great white sharks. The cage diving takes place once the sharks have arrived for roughly 2 to 3 hours after which we return to the Simons Town harbour. The cage comfortably takes 5 divers at a time, but can take max 6 if required. We mostly work on a breath-hold system in the cage as visibility is often limited and contact time with the animals underwater only lasts a few seconds at a time.

During may excursions we also see dolphins, bryde whales, Southern right whales, African penguins and a variety of sea birds.

BLUE & MAKO SHARK TRIP

This is a cage free scuba dive out in the pelagic ocean of Simons Town, False Bay. Join us on this shark adventure as we meet early morning. We board he boat and check our dive gear as we set off on our roughly 2 hour ride to the dive site. After arrival at the dive site we start to chum the water for sharks. Dive time depends on shark activity with average depth at between 5 and 8 meters. Scuba divers on this shark tour must be experienced advanced divers only. This shark trip is focused around the blue shark and the mako shark however many other species of marine animals are often sighted such as the orca, yellowfin tuna, longfin tuna, bonito, yellow tail, cape fur seal, albatross, shear-waters, petrels, sperm whale and pilot whale.